As a boy, well at least the last I check I was, I can assure the world that it is OK for boys to experience emotions. We are conditioned both at home and in the world to not express them or let them get the better of us, but that blunts our ability to understand those emotions as well as be empathetic to other's emotions.

I fell in to this trap in my younger days. This strength that I was broadcasting to the world was by force field from the human experience. Now saying that, as I have aged, I have softened. I have grown wiser, I think I have at least, and more aware of what is going on behind the scenes in my brain. Not all emotion is beautiful. Some of the damage left from suppressing emotion might not heal to all for me to experience life with those lenses removed. But time passes, my age and the culmination of my life's experiences has let me know that is OK to be vulnerable. It is OK to let someone past the gates. It is OK to let people know the real you. It wont make a lesser person of you if you do.